Indian Creek’s Jalen Sauer fights for yardage during Friday’s game against Batesville.
Rob Baker | For the Daily Journal
Batesville’s bus ride back home will feel a little shorter.
The Class 3A No. 10 Bulldogs used a solid ball-control offense to keep the Braves off the field and took a 29-13 win in sectional championship action on Friday night.
The Braves might have been the winners, but two potential touchdown passes were dropped, and untimely penalties also hurt.
“That’s what they do,” Indian Creek coach Casey Gillin said of Batesville. “They are physical up front. There were so many things. We can’t turn the ball over, we can’t have penalties and we have to be better on defense. There were a lot of things.”
In winning their first sectional since 2015, the Bulldogs not only extend their season at 11-1, but their winning streak to seven. Batesville will play Heritage Hills in a regional next week. Indian Creek (8-4) saw its six-game winning streak stopped.
Both teams have had stellar defenses through this sectional. Indian Creek had only given up a touchdown in its first two postseason games, while the Bulldogs only surrendered 20 points.
Either something or nothing was going to give in the championship, as both averaged 33 points a game. While Batesville didn’t match its average, it was hard to stop when it mattered.
Gage Pohlman rushed for 144 yards and scored three touchdowns on runs of 5, 1 and 27 yards, the first after an impressive seven play, 67-yard drive on the Bulldogs’ first possession.
Indian Creek countered with a drive of its own, culminating with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Jalen Sauer to Bobby Emberton to make it 8-7.
The Bulldogs scored once in the third on a 17-yard pass from Will Jaisle to Cade Kaiser to put the Bulldogs up 23-7.
Indian Creek didn’t score again until midway through the fourth when Sauer again hit Emberton, this time from the 7.
The killer for the Braves came when Pohlman ran in for his third touchdown to effectively put the game away.
Still, Batesville did everything it could to put the Braves back in the game.
Two interceptions in the end zone and a startling 125 yards in penalties, with 65 of them coming in the fourth quarter. Indian Creek was sloppy, too, with 85 yards on nine penalties.
“We can’t get beat on penalties and turnovers,” Gillin said. “I wish nothing but the best for (Batesville).
Sauer threw for 133 yards and two touchdowns, but he also had three interceptions. His counterpart, Jaisle, threw for 132 yards and had a pair of touchdowns and interceptions.
Indian Creek, the Western Indiana Conference Gold Division champion, loses 15 seniors — including Sauer, which puts a big hole at quarterback. Gillin, though, expects to have the successor prepared.
“We’ll figure it out,” Gillin said. “I can’t say enough about these guys. They’ve been together for a long time, and they could have quit when we lost our first two games, but they didn’t and they found ways to win. I love them.”
